Update (2:47 PM): Ansar Khan writes that Chris Chelios will be a healthy scratch tonight in favor of Andreas Lilja. Apparently, they just want to give Cheli a rest. - Matt

Update (10:40 AM): I should have read the Freep article more closely, but I was in a rush to get to work at 6:00 AM. According to Helene St. James, Valtteri Filppula will play on the top line with Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom. Okay, but I suspect Fil will share time with someone else on the wing there, since the line won’t be as static as it is when Zetterberg’s playing, and he won’t be getting 18-19 minutes.

Babcock’s apparent decision to play Johan Franzen with Robert Lang and Kyle Calder kind of leaves Jiri Hudler as the odd man out. Assuming the three Grand Rapids call-ups play together on a line, Jiri could play with Kirk Maltby and Kris Draper, where he wouldn’t really fit in, or on the other two lines on rotation. I think we’ll see him rotate, as he’d be a good fit with Lang and useful for giving Fil a break on the top line. - Matt

Tonight is the fifth of eight games between these two Central Division teams this season. The Wings lead the series 4-0, with wins November 2nd (2-1), December 14th (3-2), January 13th (6-3), and February 21st (4-2). They will play again on Friday in Detroit before a home-home series April 5th-7th.

The Hawks are 1-1-0 since losing to the Wings last week, raising their February record to 5-3-2. On the 22nd, they were shut out at home by the San Jose Sharks, who had also played the night before, a 3-2 shootout win in Washington. They rebounded three days later with a 5-1 win over St. Louis, riding a three-point night for Martin Havlat. The win snapped a five-game losing streak for the Hawks, whose last win had come February 11th.

The Chicago roster has changed a bit since the last time we saw them. Bryan Smolinksi is no longer a Blackhawk, as they traded him to Vancouver for a conditional 2nd round pick yesterday, and Jason Williams will be dressing for his new team tonight, a day after being traded by the Wings for Kyle Calder.

Martin Havlat continues to be dangerous, having put up 17 points in his last 12 games. He was a troublemaker in the last game between these two teams and will be doing the same tonight, I’m sure.

You can expect to see Nikolai Khabibulin in net for the Hawks tonight.

The Wings have lost their two games since beating Chicago, albeit both of them came in extra time. The first, a 4-3 shootout loss to Edmonton, came on Friday at home. The second came the next night in Nashville, a 4-3 overtime loss to the Predators in a Central Division showdown. With that win, the Predators took the lead in the Division, though both teams had the same number of points. The Preds won again the next night in Columbus and stand two points ahead of the Wings now. A win tonight wouldn’t put the Wings ahead because Nashville has more wins through the same number of games played.

Dominik Hasek will be in net.

Kyle Calder is expected to make his debut as a Red Wing tonight. The Free Press reports that he’s probably going to play with Robert Lang and Johan Franzen.

Henrik Zetterberg will sit out after having back spasms in practice yesterday. Matt Hussey was called up from Grand Rapids to fill in for him. It will be interesting to see how Babcock mixes up the lines in Hank’s absence. Perhaps we’ll see Kris Draper move to the top line.

Dan Cleary is out with a knee sprain, with Matt Ellis filling in for him.

It’s important that the Wings get back on track tonight after dropping their last two games. It’ll be emotional to see Jason Williams on the other side of the ice, but they need to take care of business and work out a win in order to keep pace with Nashville.